Will Motorola’s Android handset pose a greater threat to the iPhone, improving on the G1, the first Google phone from HTC and T-Mobile? That’s the question on many minds as details of Moto’s open-source phone appeared Monday.
Motorola’s Android unit, not expected until late 2009, reportedly sports many features missing from the G1, offering improved specs, according to Monday’s BusinessWeek.
Citing information distributed to carriers, the financial news source said the Motorola device appears to be “a higher-end version” of the G1, produced by Taiwan’s HTC.
A larger screen tops the list of features. The display approaches the size of the iPhone’s 3.5-inch screen. The handset also includes a slide-out QWERTY keyboard instead of Apple’s virtual on-screen keyboard.
Motorola is reportedly shopping its Android version with a $150 price tag, undercutting the $180 G1.
Along with Google Maps and other online services from the Internet giant, the Motorola’ device will offer easy access to social media sites MySpace and Facebook.
One analyst who has hands-on experience with the G1 said Google didn’t stress the importance of the HTC handset to mesh with the Android OS.
“The iPhone on the other hand was conceptualized as a complete system,” Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney told Cult of Mac.
Dulaney said the G1 illustrates a flaw with the Android system versus the often elegant proprietary iPhone or BlackBerry.
“With [open source] you have the freedom to choose but many don’t take
the time to understand the goals and objectives in the minds of others,” he said.
Another analyst who has both a G1 and an iPhone, said there are other trade-offs.
“I would describe the G1’s styling as ‘functional’ or ‘clunky,’ so it shouldn’t be too hard for someone to raise the bar there,” Current Analysis handset analyst Avi Greengart told Cult of Mac.
He said the iPhone’s exclusive U.S. deal with AT&T allows Android to position itself as a way for carriers to offer an iPhone-like experience without having a bruising head-to-head battle against Apple.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
